At Least For Christmas
by The Tiramisu Of Impending Doom
Summary: A belated Christmas oneshot. Implied VincentxTifa. [undergoing revision]


Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII and all of its wonderful characters belong to those Square people. Well, they're not really squares. I'm sure they look like normal people, it's just... Oh never mind.

Oneshot. Implied VincentXTifa, with a possible sequel. I wrote this Christmas day so if I update this around July or something strange like that don't eat me. Glomps Vin… I also added a little extra about Red XIII and fixed a few other things that were bothering me… Read and review if you wish!

* * *

Vincent Valentine paused in the hallway at the sound of musical laughter two doors down. He glanced up at the beam of light from the room's window shining into the dimmer hallway. Curiously, slowly, he silently approached the room and picked up the sounds of Marlene and Tifa talking from within.

"Hold still, Marlene… You've got such thick hair…"

"Oh, Tifa… Can you braid it? Like a princess?"

"Of course…"

"Then I'll do your hair!"

Tifa giggled musically. "Sure, Marlene..."

Vincent stopped in the doorway, leaning against the wooden doorframe so he could observe the two without disturbing them. Tifa sat on the floor butterfly style, with Marlene's back to her. With a genuine smile brightening her face, the woman held a brush in one hand and a mass of Marlene's hair in the other. A red ribbon lay across Tifa's lap.

They both wore dresses appropriate for the party Tifa had planned for Christmas. The little girl's was deep red with short sleeves and white lace lining the bottom and the inside of her sleeves, while Tifa's was a simple deep green dress with long sleeves and an extra amount of satin to tie a slimming bow in the back. Though Tifa needed no slimming, the gown's additional ribbon accentuated her curves.

Marlene started humming softly, and Tifa went into an easy smile before she joined in the familiar song, her voice helping to carry the catchy, happy tune that would probably plague his mind for the rest of the day.

He clenched his jaw tightly and left the room, unaware that Tifa had looked up just in time for his cape to just disappear behind the wall.

* * *

Marlene smiled as she admired Tifa's work in the mirror. "Oh, it looks pretty, Tifa!" She turned to look up at Tifa hopefully. "Can I do yours now?"

Smiling adoringly, Tifa nodded and obediently sat down nearby so Marlene could comb out her long, chocolate brown hair.

"Tifa?" Marlene asked after a moment.

"Hm?"

"…Did you get Vincent a present?"

Tifa chuckled, hiding her surprise. Tifa could've sworn she just saw him leave the room. She thought she saw the flutter of his deep red cape, but her eyes played tricks on her all the time. After that, she began to think about him, and if Christmas would change him at all. Had Marlene been thinking of him too?

"Yes I did," she answered. "Why?"

"…Me too."

"That's sweet of you, Marlene. I'm sure he'll appreciate it…"

"Do you think it will make him talk more?"

"I doubt it," Tifa replied, "but I know he'll be grateful. I don't think anyone else got him anything."

"I don't think he got anybody else anything either…"

Tifa nodded slowly, a frown suddenly replacing the content expression on her face. Vincent probably would have difficulty accepting their presents. He wouldn't expect to receive anything from anyone, and it was more than likely that he had nothing to give anyone. But then, Vincent was always full of surprises, and he always made up to them whenever they did him a favor—a favor usually executed against his will.

Regardless of whether he had a gift for anyone, he was still her friend, and she didn't think anyone else in the world would send him a gift because he was so cold by nature. She hoped that her gift would make him happy, at least for Christmas…

* * *

Vincent's hand lightly fell upon the page as his eyes scanned the words, his brow furrowed in concentration. Probably only dimly aware of the sound of rain and snow against the glass window next to him, he looked intrigued by the book in his hand, and he could probably hardly muster the will to put it down. It was likely that he didn't even take note of her presence.

Marlene Wallace, on the other hand, had a burning desire to talk to him, for she had a specially wrapped gift to bestow upon the elusive man personally. She noticed that no one approached him at the Christmas party earlier that day, and now that everyone was asleep, she thought it was a perfect time to hand him the gift, even though she could hardly stay awake herself. The last time she stayed up this late was—

She smiled to herself as she went through her schedule of the past few nights, when she would come by Vincent's room just to see if he was awake, which—most of the time—he was. In those few moments when she found him asleep, she would stand there in the doorway and watch him expectantly, as though he'd spring up from his sleep and watch her expressionlessly with those blood-red eyes. Tonight, she hoped that he would be a little less creepy and a little more appreciative. She'd known him for long enough to know that he wouldn't hurt her, no matter how scary he looked.

Just as he turned the page, Marlene took a brave step forward and addressed him.

"Vincent?"

He placed his hand in the page and closed the book over his long fingers before turning his complete attention to her. He eyed her up and down; on the surface interested in the suspicious manner she held her hands behind her back. He returned his eyes to her face, raising his eyebrows a fraction.

"Miss Wallace, it is quite late," he pointed out tonelessly.

His voice, however quiet, always managed to startle her and she smiled guiltily, shyly lowering her eyes. "Well… it's Christmas… and…"

She expected him to ask her to continue when she drifted off, but he silently waited for her instead.

"Umm…" She dared to raise her brown eyes to his, only to find that his gaze hadn't left her face. Her eyes growing imperceptibly wider, Marlene dropped her jaw, suddenly hypnotized by the enigmatic color and intensity of his eyes.

"…Did you want something?" he asked after a moment of both parties enduring the other's close inspection.

She blinked out of her trance. "I… Uh…" She smiled, remembering herself, and presented her gift to him, wrapped merrily in pink and purple paper with sheer pink ribbon. She thought about how she sneaked all the gift-wrap into her room so she could prepare his gift, and then she'd closed the door and meticulously folded the paper and tied the gift to perfection. She worked so hard…

Vincent quirked an eyebrow. "What is this?"

"It's a gift," she said flatly. "For Christmas…" _Ya know? The holiday where people get gifts for the ones they love and adore, even if they stay in dark corners surveying you emotionlessly?_

Perhaps it was a mistake to come here. She should've known that he wouldn't care. The man didn't do much smiling…

"For me?" he ventured.

She nodded, the smile on her face growing while she watched him set his book aside to accept the gift from her, at which point he turned the box-shaped gift in his claw to examine the wrapping.

"Open it!" she said, hardly able to control her excitement.

He returned his gaze to her face and narrowed his eyes. "What is it?" he inquired.

"Oh, just open it!"

"…Are you sure this isn't for Tifa?" he asked warily.

"Of course. I already gave Tifa her gift, remember? Look, I wrote your name along the side… See?" She stepped closer to point to the side of the box, where his name was written in a fancy script with a shiny blue pen.

"Thank you."

"Open it!" she said again, tugging on his sleeve urgently.

He sent her a blank stare at the way she tenaciously grasped his sleeve, so she contented herself with releasing him and leaning in closely instead. She watched his elegant fingers remove the ribbon slowly, as though he was locating which wires to cut to disarm a deadly bomb.

"You can just rip the paper," she whispered urgently, her head brushing his shoulder. "I don't mind."

But Vincent said nothing, and continued to open the gift in his excruciatingly unhurried manner. After a long minute of chewing on her lip anxiously, the box was unveiled at last, and Vincent slid a hand across the surface before removing the box lid to reveal the gift within.

A folded piece of paper was snuggling beside a fluffy-looking stuffed dog. She smiled in recollection of her handiwork, and hoped he would like the picture she drew with such precision. She wondered how many colored pencils she used up, sharpening and re-sharpening, trying to get the shading just right…

She watched in desperation as he slowly unfolded the paper, and once the image of him was exposed, she swept her gaze up to his face, surprised to see that his expression had softened.

"It's… me," he observed impassively.

She nodded excitedly, and then pointed to the background. "And there are trees and… and there's Tifa and Barret… and me…" She went on and on, impulsively describing the drawing for him even though he could clearly see it himself. She looked at his face every so often to gauge his reaction, but of course he revealed nothing, and showed her he was listening by nodding from time to time.

When she was finished, he folded the picture up half-way and returned it to the box before looking down at Marlene. "You shouldn't have," he informed her gently. "Thank you."

"Merry Christmas, Vincent!" She hesitated, wanting to give him a huge hug of appreciation, but suspected that he wouldn't welcome it from her. However, once he placed the box aside next to his book, she took advantage of the opportunity and jumped on his lap so she could throw her arms around his neck. "Oh, Vincent!"

She felt his entire body stiffen as she held on, and buried her face into his neck. He smelled like the Christmas candles Tifa placed around the house and lit during the evenings. Tifa had once said those candles were magical. Marlene wondered if he spent a lot of time with Tifa, or if he just liked the smell of candles. Or maybe Vincent was magical like those candles…

At some point, she felt him relax and his arm made of flesh came around her waist to hold her against him, and she felt her eyelids slipping down in the moments he held her there, unaware that she would surrender to the darkness of sleep before she could remember herself.

Vincent let out a sigh as he looked over the gifts Marlene gave to him. The sickeningly adorable looking stuffed dog, a black Labrador wearing a dark red sweater... He reached over with his claw and picked it up thoughtfully before his eyes came across the picture she drew for him. He set the dog back down and picked up the picture, unfolding the paper so he could regard it for a second time. It disturbed him a bit, even though she'd drawn everything accurately, careful to draw the claw as proportioned as possible to his right arm even though it probably looked out-of-place to her. She'd drawn his careless mane of black hair, the deep crimson headband and the golden-tipped boots. She drew his lips in a straight line, yet the corners hinted towards a smile. His blood-red eyes had a few dots of brown in them. Her smaller, more jubilant figure was drawn next to his, holding his claw in her tiny hand and looking up at him appreciatively. Tifa and Barret stood in the background, along with a few indefinable figures, but the one with blonde hair spiked about his head was obviously Cloud Strife. There were trees, flowers, and birds, and even a tire swing hanging from the tree branch; she'd drawn in every possible object made for happiness, though he hardly smiled as he studied the picture a second time. She worked so hard on this, but he could hardly grasp what possessed her to give him such a lovely gift…

The young girl still slept, limply seated in his lap with her arms loosely coiled around his neck, her tiny hands grasping his collar and a few strands of hair. He thought she was brave to come to him, but then she couldn't have known the monster he was. She couldn't even imagine such a vile creature, he suspected. She was too innocent for that. On the other hand, Marlene had witnessed the near-end of the world, no doubt a horrifying thought to a young girl whose only worries in life probably consisted of being tucked in by her favorite nanny or perhaps not being able to see her friends during the day.

Innocent; yes, and very mature for her age. He'd observed her from the window one day, noting that she didn't care to play with the other girls as they ran around town. Instead, she sat underneath the shade of a tree to draw, until Tifa came running out, at which point—he may as well admit it—he would lose all interest in the child and find his eyes drawn to the beautiful young woman instead. The way the sunlight hit her deep brown hair and made it appear fiery like a phoenix's wings around the edges, as though she had a magical aura surrounding her.

He certainly had a disturbing habit of losing himself to thoughts on her as of yet. He'd tried to deny the images of her in his dreams, to ignore her voice when he heard her talking down the hall, but it became close to impossible. And seeing Marlene only helped to remind him of Tifa. The way she looked up at him with those wide brown eyes as she presented his gift. The way those eyes lit up as she explained the details of her drawing, pointing with those lead-and-colored-pencil-stained fingertips. The way she smiled at him even though he must've frightened her…

—And how she and Tifa looked when Tifa braided her hair… so content… so—

But Tifa… Tifa wouldn't have hugged him, he decided. She would've smiled and stepped backward awkwardly, her face burning prettily with embarrassment. And then she'd give him a little wave before hurrying out of the room…

He swallowed hard and shook his head as though he'd remove the thought from his mind with physical denial, and then reverently placed the drawing back on the desk beside his book and the stuffed animal. Gently, he gathered the sleeping Marlene into his arms before standing up and making his way towards her room. Thankfully, she still slept soundly, with her head cradled against his chest as he stepped quietly down the hall.

Once he came to the doorway of her room, however, he stopped abruptly when he caught movement at the corner of his eye. He glanced up and his eyes outlined the form of Miss Lockheart in the dim hallway light, clad in a warm robe and her long hair pulled back into a loose braid, her eyes observing him warmly.

He regarded her with a simple nod before stepping into Marlene's room, and gently deposited the girl on her bed, pulling the covers over her shoulders. She mumbled something unintelligible before falling silent again. Convinced and satisfied that she was as comfortable as possible, Vincent rose to his full height and turned towards the doorway, only somewhat taken aback to see Tifa standing there, blocking his path.

He stepped towards her and inquired softly, "Did I wake you?"

She shook her head, smiling weakly. Nodding towards the sleeping girl, she asked, "Did _she_ wake _you_?"

He shook his head and stepped forward again. Tifa stepped out of the room so he could move past her, and she closed the door behind him. "Is she alright?" she whispered to him.

"She's fine," he answered, reluctantly turning to face her again.

"I'm surprised she's awake," she commented. "She had so many sweets that she used up her energy right away…"

"Hmm… Perhaps she will sleep well tonight…"

Tifa nodded in silent concurrence.

"Goodnight, Tifa," he said abruptly, and turned so he could return to his room. He'd participated in enough out-of-character activities for one day. It must've been the holiday spirit. _If I'm lucky, it'll be gone tomorrow,_ he thought to himself. He couldn't imagine that Tifa would tolerate his presence for much longer than the New Year holiday at this rate. Perhaps he should just sleep at the inn instead of bothering Tifa…

"Wait, Vincent—"

Against his will, he stopped, and turned halfway to glance back at Tifa, who curiously sped away only to return a minute later with something in her hand. As she approached him, he noted it was a gift wrapped in dark red paper with silver ribbon, and opened his mouth to protest before she spoke again.

"Vincent, I wanted to give this to you earlier, but I wasn't sure if you'd be embarrassed… so… maybe this is the best time… Better late than never, right?" She laughed shakily. Her comment on the time was an understatement as he recognized the hour to be somewhere around midnight, a notion that disturbed him. How unfortunate he was to be alone with the young woman now.

Reluctantly, he took the gift from her. "Thank you," he said softly, refusing to meet her eyes.

A moment of awkward silence passed between them, and Vincent considered telling her to return to bed, but then thought better of it. As long as Christmas lasted, he'd let himself be a bit less cold. Just for one night, but he didn't even have to think of anything to say before Tifa stammered a silence breaker.

"Well… You don't have to open it now… I… I… I should go back to bed… Goodnight, Vincent. Merry Christmas…"

He looked up at her to wish her the same, wholeheartedly agreeing with her notion of returning to bed, but she'd already turned away. He mouthed the words and swallowed, suddenly hit with a profound feeling of regret as he went back to his room.

He didn't have any gifts for Marlene, or Tifa, or anyone else. He just assumed that no one would get anything for him, or that no one would ever take anything from him…

_Admit it, he_ told himself bitterly. Yo_u simply didn't even give the thought any time out of your day…_

_Bastard._

With a heavy heart, he returned to his room. Or what would be his room for the remainder of the week, though he assumed Tifa and the others wouldn't mind if he left earlier than everyone else. Tifa was kind enough to let him—or rather, force him to stay here—for the Christmas weekend. She lived alone, since Cloud was stupid enough not to ask her to marry him, and Barret and he often visited her during the month. Cid and Shera were expecting a child, so they couldn't come for Christmas, but they'd visit at some point. Vincent remembered with some fondness when they were all reunited for Christmas day, only last year…

"_It's so good to see everyone," _Tifa had said. _"I know that our lives will distance us, but I hope that we'll visit more often…" She turned to him, gesturing with her arms for emphasis. "Oh Vincent… I'm so glad you're staying for Christmas. We're going to have such a lovely time… I know you don't like parties, but it's better than staying in that old mansion, isn't it?"_

He sat down in the same chair by the window again, and leaned back so he could stare at the gift in his hand thoughtfully. It was wrapped less gaily than Marlene's, and the box was larger, heavier. He was willing to bet that Tifa didn't bother to draw him a picture or buy him a stuffed animal…

For some reason, his fingers trembled while they undid the wrapping in the same way he opened Marlene's gift. This time, he took even more care, his brow creased deeply as he contemplated what could possibly be inside. Once the paper was completely removed, he idly let the scraps fall to the floor so he could open the white box. Holding his breath, he eased off the lid and parted his lips.

Inside were photographs, most likely ones that Tifa made sure were taken when Vincent was less than willing a few months ago. One showed a crazed Yuffie crawling on the floor, latched onto his leg while he struggled fruitlessly to get away from her, with half of Cloud in the picture, the blonde's face overcome with a broad smirk. In another, Tifa stood between Vincent and Cid, her arms around each of them; Cid's arm was wrapped around her waist while Vincent stood stiffly beside her, his eyes not quite meeting the camera. The next photo, possibly taken by Barret or Cloud, displayed Vincent holding a somewhat younger Marlene in one arm while she pulled at his hair and had a daisy in her hand. He remembered that she nearly managed to get the flower in his hair, but he'd convinced her to play with Tifa's hair instead. The image of Vincent had a very subtle smile on his lips. In the background stood a very pleased and winsome looking Tifa, her head tilted to a side and her arms crossed over her chest. She wore a deep blue dress with short sleeves and the skirt not quite going past her knees. Its collar went just past her collarbone, and against her breast was a golden chain with a simple heart pendant, glinting with the camera flash. He let himself slide his finger across her lovely form for a moment before flipping through the remaining pictures.

Once he finished looking through them, he found another present. He shook his head in denial as he freed a book free of its meager wrappings before studying the cover and the inside of the flap. There was a rather serious-looking man on the cover, his intense eyes looking downward at the knife on the table before him while a woman emerged from a door in the background, holding a gun in her hand. After reading the book's summary, he concluded it was some sort of a mystery involving a couple of scientists and a secret agency.

He smiled wryly at the irony of the story synopsis, and then shook his head in bemusement when he came across yet another gift. A tiny red and gold box filled with chocolates. How she knew his favorite treat was beyond his thoughts, but he was still grateful, and when he ate them he would think of her…

And he wondered how she might react if he offered some to her…

Earlier that day, Barret and Cloud had stopped with "Merry Christmas," and gave him nothing. He hardly expected them to give him anything, with all the sentiment he offered to them in return. Yuffie, on the other hand, had laughed and tugged on his cape to give him a cheerful, "Hey Vinny! Yeah, you. Vamp-Boy. Merry Christmas." She then asked him jokingly if she should get him ammunition for the holiday, and he'd bit his tongue before he replied, _"I would use it on you most promptly, Miss Kisaragi." _She would've been gullible enough to take his comment seriously. Her unnecessary, unreturned attention, however irksome in large amounts, lightened his heart.

Tifa had spoken at some length about Red XIII's absence. It was a shame that he could not attend, but the resident of Cosmo Canyon had told them how busy things had become, even after Tifa pleaded and Cloud protested, "But we've come all this way!" The cat-like creature had shaken his head, but politely wished them a pleasant holiday and that he would see them again. Nanaki was very kind and well-mannered, so Cloud and Tifa just left disappointedly. Vincent thought that perhaps he would visit the cat-like creature at some point, for he remembered having quiet conversations with him on the Highwind. Nanaki had proved to be wise beyond his years…

Cid and Shera… If they were here, he could imagine Cid stammering to wish him a happy holiday, while Shera smiled coyly beside her Captain. Then the scruffy looking man would lightly punch Vincent on the shoulder and pull him into a tight one-armed hug. "Aw, Merry god-damn Christmas, you creepy bastard." Cid had a way of gushing out profanity without making it sound offensive. When they first met, Vincent remembered being given similar treatment and the language displeased him to some extent, and he would ignore the Captain whenever he could. He remembered how stiffly he stood on the airship all those days and long nights. It was no wonder they all avoided him for so long…

And Tifa and Marlene. In his head, he could hear their nauseatingly happy Christmas tune while he contemplated their innocence and selflessness…

He wondered if he deserved such friends and their generous gifts. He didn't know, but he would somehow find a way to make it up to them.


End file.
